This was my IRL book club choice for July. I had never heard of either this book, or, to be honest, this author. And, as always, life is kind of busy and I actually totally forgot about it. I mainly blame this on the fact that I was actually unable to go to the previous meeting, when this book was chosen. Anyways, I was able to pick up the book from the library on a Tuesday…for a Thursday evening book cub. I binge read the crap out of most of it. And then on Wednesday evening I looked up where the meeting was going to be and realized that it was not until the following Thursday! So instead of two days, I had 9 days to finish. Thankfully, it was a quick read and, actually, I would have finished it in time for a meeting this Thursday even (go me), but it’s nice that the pressure is off now. And, of course, I feel dumb. But you know, it’s cool. At least I didn’t miss the meeting…haha.

Iris spends most of her time invested in the vintage-clothing shop she owns, and (currently) dealing with her relationship with a married man who wants more from her, when she receives a call out of the blue about a great-aunt she never knew she had, Esme Lennox. Esme has been a patient at a residential psychiatric hospital for over 60 years and no one in the family had never talked about her before. In a turn of events that Iris cannot really explain, Esme ends up staying with her for a few days, while other arrangements are made for her future, since the hospital will be shutting down. And during those few days, some deeply kept family secrets may come to light.

This book was physically short yes, but it was also an incredibly fast read (and not only because I skim-binged it). It was a very unique style. A sort of multi-perspective stream of conscious writing moved quickly but definitely took some time to adjust too. There were no chapters (like seriously, not a single break in the whole book) and really nothing to indicate changes in the perspective we were getting the story from (other than a small line break and, basically, context clues). The good news is that it was not a complex story, rendering the action fairly easy to follow. The “plot development,” as it were, is all based around the events of Esme’s childhood that led to her commitment. Well, and partially some present tense developments in Iris’ personal life. But it’s pretty straightforward, so the effort involved in figuring out who was speaking was not a huge deal. Anyways, the writing had a gorgeous flow to it, some of the smoothest stream of conscious writing I’ve ever read. And a very creative way to show the way Alzheimer’s and/or mental health struggles might affect a person’s narration.

As far as the “easy to follow” plot development goes, it was fairly reasonably compelling. It has always fascinated me (in a horrifying sort of way) what women used to be institutionalized for. Like the amount of trauma many of them suffered that caused them to be committed in the first place just being compounded unreasonably by the “treatment” they got there. Or some things that weren’t even traumatic or emotionally related and were just…women showing any kind of preference or backbone or (reasonable) sexuality. (Side note: the general exploration of sexual repression of women in a number of ways throughout recent history, as a main theme of this novel, was explored in a way I haven’t seen much before and I enjoyed, if you can call it that, reading about it.) Altogether though, lots of UGH feelings about poor Esme’s story (and parts of all of the other female characters’ stories as well). And for the reasons, in Esme’s case, for institutionalization (with no view of release)…the way that she should have been dealt treated in such a better way, with counseling and trauma-centered healthcare and, even more simply, empathy instead of blame/anger/bring ignored, is infuriating. Anyways, while that part was, as aforementioned, interesting, I think, weirdly, I was more into Iris’ situation in the present tense. Her relationship with her (step) brother was really interesting for me, the way internalized societal expectations affected their interpersonal interactions. I don’t know why exactly, but I found that part of the story more engaging.

Overall, this was an interesting story, one that held my attention and made me want to finish it and see all the full reveals and how it all played out in the present tense. However, the way it was written somehow made me feel like I was reading it all from an arm’s distance. I can’t say I was ever completely/totally emotionally invested in any of the outcomes, it was just that my sense of curiosity had me wanting to know how things played out. I enjoyed this book, but it won’t really be sticking with me, I don’t think.